A Buried Brotherhood Unearthed
by Azure Umbra
Summary: Happens after "Innocence Lost": Mao Mao receives an unexpected call which brings up memories of a family member he's genuinely made sure to try and forget. Badgerclops and Adorabat come to learn who this part of Mao Mao's family is, despite him claiming this person to be anything but that. [-Now with Part 2-]
1. Chapter 1

Badgerclops and Adorabat were relaxing in the house, at least they initially tried to, when they heard loud noises coming from the dojo outside. They had made their way to said dojo to find Mao Mao training himself to the limit against all the traps present, his sword Geraldine in hand. Both the bat and the badger couldn't help but notice how aggressive the black cat was acting, hacking and slashing things to pieces with his sword with such growling and roaring furor. They could tell that Mao Mao wasn't training because he liked to.

"Uh, hey dude?" Badgerclops managed to sound out before he immediately had to duck from an incoming chunk of wood, screeching out a yelp. He inched his way back up to look at Mao Mao having swung the fragment in his direction with the wild look still on his face. Mao Mao breathed heavily, suppressing a growl with his teeth bared as he cooled down from the sudden halt in his exercise. But that look lasted for only a moment once he recognized who he just threw stuff at.

"Oh, Badgerclops, I'm so sorry," Mao Mao sputtered nervously, his eyes widened and his hands raised in shock. He turned away to look down at the floor, sighing as he sat down. His gaze turned downcast, though slightly bitter and morose as he just sat silently. Badgerclops and Adorabat turned to each other with a sad and concerned look on their faces before deciding to move to either side of Mao Mao. Badgerclops walked over and sat on one side while Adorabat flew and landed on the other.

This time, it was Adorabat's turn to speak. "Mao Mao, are you okay?" She placed a wing on the black cat's arm. Mao Mao didn't pull away, but he didn't react much to the little bat's gentle touch. It took him a little bit of effort to try and answer her.

"I…I don't know, Adorabat."

* * *

_It all started yesterday with a phone call. One that involved ringing on an old-style telephone that was blue and had a receiver shaped like a cat's head with green slit eyes. It surprised both Adorabat and Badgerclops that the ringing came from something other than the Monster Alarm, but what surprised them even more was how quick Mao Mao was at being the first to go answer it._

_When Mao Mao picked it up, the tone was very somber despite how quickly it changed from the cat being loud and clear to almost whispering. His two other friends could make out him speaking to who was apparently his mom, and from the way he responded to what he was hearing, he was not very happy to hear it. They were even sure that he sounded like he was trying hard to restrain himself from making an outburst, not to mention that he was making multiple refusals to some kind of request. The tension and uncertainty over what just happened only built up even more once Mao Mao hung up. It was when they asked him what the call from his mom was all about and Mao Mao's single curt answer to that question that they knew what they wanted to know, or at least enough of it:_

"_It's my brother. He was asking for me."_

* * *

Both Badgerclops and Adorabat knew as much as each other when they tried to guess why Mao Mao wouldn't talk about this brother of his. Actually, they never knew he even had a brother until the call came. They only knew that he had a father who pretty much ignored him and five sisters whose shadows he stood under because he told the two about them himself. Somehow, he was open enough to share his memories of those six family members to his unrelated friends, maybe even to complete strangers if it comes to that, but to leave out one brother in particular raised at least a couple questions. Once he mentioned his brother to them for the first time, he didn't say another word, instead opting to just walk off to the bedroom and stay in there for several hours. Seeing how this knowledge troubled Mao Mao to levels that were no longer simply casual if not funny, Badgerclops and Adorabat decided to try and help Mao Mao get it out of his system.

"Who's your brother?" Adorabat asked first.

Mao Mao let out a displeased sigh as though he was trying not to let out another enraged scream, at least not with the girl sitting next to him. "He's my brother…but…not really my brother…literally…"

"So he's adopted?" Badgerclops interjected. "Is he like…some different-colored cat, or something?"

"He's a dog, okay?" Mao Mao growled. He didn't turn to look at his badger friend. "And yeah, he's adopted…my father took him in when we were both little."

"Yeah okay, but does he, you know, have a name?"

Mao Mao grumbled again. He tried to stay silent, but knew that both of his friends' eyes were still on him and were not leaving him be any moment sooner. "Bao Bao."

"Uh, what?" Badgerclops couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"I said his name's Bao Bao!" Mao Mao exclaimed, finally turning to face Badgerclops with a recognizable level of irritation that was all too well known by everyone who's gotten to know him. "What's your problem?"

"No, nothing dude!" Badgerclops backed away a little bit. "It's just the name Bao Bao, it sounds like your name. It's almost like you gave him that name or something." He stopped talking upon sensing an even more piercing glare from the black cat. "And…okay then."

"But why don't you like him?" Adorabat asked Mao Mao next. "He's your brother. You talk about your dad and sisters like they're great, but not him."

Mao Mao's gaze dropped, his face slowly morphing from anger to a smoldering melancholy. He rested his chin on his knees as he tried to muster the energy to stay upset. "I used to think he was great," he spoke softly, "Actually, he was the one who thought I was great. He's the youngest in my family, but I'm still the smallest." He looked up at the distant view of Pure Heart Valley outside the dojo. "Ever since we met after he became part of the family, he thought my father and sisters were incredible heroes, just like how I looked up to them too, but…when he looked at me, he thought I was an up and blooming hero too. It's like even though I was still trying to learn to be a hero, I knew more about it than him, so he…wanted to be like me too, wanted me to teach him." He let out a tiny stifled chuckle. "It kinda made him my apprentice, but we stuck to each other more like fast friends. I guess being one of only two boys among the Mao family's children would do that to you. But then father wanted to teach him the ways of the Mao clan just as he did for my sisters, and then we didn't see each other as much anymore."

Mao Mao felt Badgerclops's hand rest on his shoulder while Adorabat curled her wing around his other arm even more. "Hey, it's not like we were complete strangers after," Mao Mao objected. "We still talked to each other and played from time to time. Boy, Bao Bao wouldn't stop asking me to show him a new trick…especially when I tried to show that trick to father first." His eyes then traveled up to glance at the Ruby Pure Heart in the far distance. "Then I thought, 'Why don't we go on an adventure together for old times' sake?' and for a little while, things went back to the way they were before."

"Well, that doesn't sound bad." Adorabat observed.

But then Mao Mao's gaze hardened again, only this time, it came back tenfold. "Yeah…and that's when he betrayed me…destroyed me!" His hands balled up into fists. "We ventured into a cave to find a treasure called the Amulet of Borflagon, a pendant that shows the most precious memory of whoever wears it. He tried to take it from me when I was supposed to be the one to claim it and bring it home! We got chased by a monster and escaped, but he still tried to rob me of my right!" His voice grew louder as he rambled on. "When I tried to defend myself, that made a giant rock fall on me…and then, he…and then…" his voice wavered and trembled, sounding like he was about to cry, "he…_took my tail off!_" He buried his head into his knees, hiding his face away from the world as he sat there curled up into a ball.

Adorabat and Badgerclops both looked at Mao Mao, witnessing the pain he had hidden away from them all this time. All they could do was comfort him the best they could with their touch. "How could he?" Mao Mao's voice muffled from behind his knees. "He already got to be more of a son to papa than I did. Wasn't that enough? Did he want to be papa's only son?" His shoulders shook, uncaring of whatever was happening around him.

"Oh Mao Mao, it's okay." Adorabat now rubbed the cat's arm with both her wings while resting her head on it. "I'm sorry for asking."

"No, no, don't be," Mao Mao sniffed.

"Let it out, man," Badgerclops rubbed his buddy's back. "I don't usually think your past is that bad, but that's really messed up. But we're here for you, okay?"

Mao Mao said nothing, but continued to sob, both sorrowfully and also angrily at having just relived the loss of his innocence.

Somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind, he wondered why his so-called brother would ever want to see him again. He, on the other hand, most certainly didn't.


	2. Chapter 2

Bao Bao was just glad to be home. After a standard length but excruciatingly strenuous day of leaping across high-altitude chasms and fighting off abominable mountain goats living on the snowy top, he just wanted to curl up next to a radiator and take a fluffy snooze. Putting away his giant broadsword next to his bed, he then took off the rest of his hero gear until he finally felt like a free dog again. The temptation for a nap was still there, but he had remembered having asked a favor of his mother a day before he left for his adventure. He left his room and traversed the expansive Mao residence until he found her, the older female black cat quietly musing to herself while looking out a window.

"Hey mom," Bao Bao quietly called out, careful not to startle her. His mom turned around casually to see her adoptive son standing in front of her.

"Oh, Bao Bao, you're back earlier than you said you would." She smiled at the sight of her adoptive son back at home and in good condition.

The tan-furred dog shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, those mountain goats put up a hard fight, but their moves were easy to read."

His mom nodded, giving a humorous huff. "I can see that happening. Good to know you made it."

Bao Bao nodded and gave a little smile in return, but he then looked down to the floor at his side, a paw holding the elbow of his other arm while his tail wagged somewhat rapidly. He was rather tight-lipped, his face held in a tense expression out of some mixed desires between saying something more and keeping quiet. Not that he was trying to hide it from his mom of all people, but her face relaxed into a show of analytical empathy.

"Is something on your mind, Bao Bao?"

The dog sighed inaudibly without opening his mouth. "Well, about what I asked you earlier…did he say anything?"

In return, his mom looked away and closed her eyes, making a quiet sigh of her own. "He was…rather quiet the whole time. I had to ask him things just to get him to even make a sound…" She said nothing afterwards, opting to look back out the window. But Bao Bao wasn't going to take the silence.

"Well? Then what did he say?"

She shut her eyes tighter, hoping vainly that he would just drop it and go on his merry way. But as a mom, she knew whether or not her adoptive son was still in the room, and she could still feel his presence every passing second. She turned to look at Bao Bao again and trotted her way towards him until she stood just several inches in front of him. She knelt down until she looked at him face to face at his eye level and took both his paws into hers. "Bao Bao…he…didn't want to talk to you." For a moment, she averted her eyes away from Bao Bao's, whose gaze slowly fell. "I tried to reason with him, if not convince him to because you and he are brothers, but he still said no. He wouldn't even tell me where exactly in Pure Heart Valley he lived."

"Oh…"

Bao Bao turned his face away to look at nothing, feeling particularly dismayed that he still continued to be haunted by that memory, of when he and his big brother were together for the last time. But he felt fingertips gently press against his cheek that pushed his line of sight back towards his mother's eyes.

"Sweetie, I know it's hard, and it hasn't been easy for you even after so long, but…" She gently squeezed the dog's paws, "…just have hope. Maybe he'll hear you out another time."

"Yeah," Bao Bao answered quietly, feeling as though he had to push himself extra hard to agree because he didn't quite believe what his mom said to him.

* * *

The next day was nothing special, just another day of patrolling and possible training, with a good amount of random fun stuff in between. Bao Bao simply took to strolling at the side of the round dojo, occasionally glancing between the scenery and the towering draconian statue that sat in the center. This place was the same one where his father, Shin Mao, had officially and ceremonially awarded his older sisters their golden weapons, the 'cool' weapons, as he heard the big cat call them.

He remembered seeing Mao Mao there too, hearing him ask their father about his legendary weapon. Seeing his big brother holding that golden sword made Bao Bao feel a little envious inside, as he wondered when he would get his legendary weapon too. It even made him laugh a little over looking at how silly his brother looked trying to hold that thing. Sure, he was bigger now, but that memory of the more distant past still got a reaction out of him.

His ears perked at the sound of rockets flaring in the air, prompting him to look in the direction of its source to find his father in the distance flying towards him, calling out his name.

"Hey son!" Shin Mao called loudly over the air blowing past him. He stopped just as he was in front of Bao Bao and landed down onto the stone floor of the open dojo. He stood in all his golden glory, his golden armor adorning his tall figure of heroic build, his red cape frayed at the edges fluttering in the wind. His hands were on his hips and his back arched as though he was doing a casual cool pose.

Bao Bao was used to this glim-glam at that point, but he couldn't just ignore it every time it came to him. "Hey dad," he greeted just as casually, giving a little wave and a smile.

"How's it going? I heard you took down all the abominable mountain rams of the northern mountains yesterday."

"Goats, actually. But yeah, took them all down. They won't be bothering the villagers of the cliff's edge anymore."

Shin Mao gave a hearty laugh. "See? I told you they wouldn't be a problem!" As he spoke, he was giving very heavy pats on Bao Bao's shoulder. Bao Bao winced slightly under the heavy touches. They felt like they would have gradually pushed him down into the floor if this continued. But that was dad, and it was probably a good thing. After all, in what other ways would he know his dad was happy with him?

Bao Bao gave a little sarcastic smile of his own. He always knew that his dad believed he could do anything. It just gets tiring after a while, especially when you hear it almost every time. "Of course," he shrugged his shoulders. "Why would they be, considering I showed them the moves I happened to get from a master?"

Shin Mao gave a muffled chuckle. "Well sure, I taught you the moves. But you perfected them, I'm sure." He then moved his hand over the dog's head to give a rubbing pat. "I watched you the whole time you trained, you know. You got so smart that I'm sure you could do anything."

That made Bao Bao's ears perk up. "You think so?"

Shin Mao laughed at how sudden his son asked that question. "Of course, son! Why else would I've wanted to take you on your first adventure, especially after I found out you made your own sword from scratch?"

Bao Bao turned his gaze away to the side as his father brought up that memory. He did make the giant sword that he commonly carried in a hilt on his back, but he didn't make it all by himself. He recalled his mother having walked in on him trying to figure out how to make the blade stay the way it did. At the time, his first several attempts looked rather messy, like he was trying to mold his weapon from clay. It took his mom telling him the entire actual smelting process from the very beginning while giving a few other on-the-side pointers as she walked him through it all. While the blade turned out exactly the way he wanted, he wanted to brag about mom to his father. It took him peeking in on his brother Mao Mao being brushed off by Shin Mao to reconsider. If his brother, the only other son in the family, could be brushed off for not being impressive enough for dad, what if Bao Bao could fall short too? He couldn't bring himself to admit that he couldn't figure out how to make a sword, so he let his father do the guesswork.

Bao Bao faced his father again, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, I was really proud of that one. I guess you were too." He was met with another pat on the back by his father. He then took the next opportunity, "Hey dad? You know what Mao Mao's up to?"

"Who?"

"Mao Mao, my brother, your other son?" Bao Bao looked deadpan.

"M-…Oh! Mew Mew, of course! Sorry son, but I haven't got any word from him in ages, so I got no idea." Shin Mao held his hands up in cluelessness as he spoke. Bao Bao sighed, disappointed that even his father proved to be another dead-end; he thought for sure that if his mother couldn't help, his father certainly would. But what was even more disheartening was the fact that even while his father had not tried to contact Mao Mao, the other way around was just as true.

But then again, thinking back to that day… _"Of course he wouldn't. But still…"_ His thoughts were interrupted by Shin Mao kneeling down to look at him at eye level.

"Eh, don't sweat it, son. I'm sure if he saw you again now, he'd be climbing all over you." He gave Bao Bao a confident wink. "He knows you're one dynamo dawg!"

That made Bao Bao laugh nervously. "Yeah, dad…dynamo dawg…right…all over me…" He waited for Shin Mao to get up and walk past him. Listening with his twitching ears, he waited until his father was absolutely absent from the area. He gave out a soft sigh. _"Well, he won't talk on the phone, but…maybe it wouldn't hurt to check out Pure Heart Valley. Kinda wanted to go exploring there after hearing it was back on the map…"_ He then turned to go back inside.

_"I wonder how different Mao Mao is now…"_


End file.
